Duets: Sonnets of Louise Labé and Guido Cavalcanti by Edward Byrne Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2018 $16.95 / 9781772011999 Reviewed by Andrew Parkin * Canadian poet Edward Byrne’s book is described as “a translation” of sonnets of Louise Labé (1522-1566) and Guido Cavalcanti (circa 1255-1300). The poems published in this book are not sonnets in terms of the…
Read more #439 Kissing through a handkerchief
Claiming the Land: British Columbia and the Making of a New Eldorado by Daniel Marshall Vancouver: Ronsdale Press, 2018 $24.95 / 9781553805021 Reviewed by Mark Forsythe First published Dec. 3, 2018 * We are pleased to reprint Mark Forsythe’s review of Daniel Marshall’s Claiming the Land: British Columbia and the Making of a New Eldorado, a…
Read more #438 The Americans are coming
Otter’s Journey Through Indigenous Language and Law by Lindsay Borrows Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018 $32.95 / 9780774836586 Reviewed by Hadley Friedland First published Dec. 3, 2018 * Lindsay Borrows is both a gifted story-teller and a meticulous researcher. In her first book, Otter’s Journey Through Indigenous Language and Law, readers benefit from both strengths. Borrows’…
Read more #437 Otter goes global
Freshly Picked: A Locavore’s Love Affair with BC’s Bounty by Jane Reid Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Books, 2018 $26.00 / 9781987915792 Reviewed by Claire Mulligan First published Dec. 1, 2018 * Now that I have savoured the lustrous pages of Jane Reid’s warm-hearted and witty book Freshly Picked, A Locavore’s Love Affair with BC’s Bounty, I…
Read more #436 Calling all locavores
Rowing the Northwest Passage: Adventure, Fear, and Awe in a Rising Sea by Kevin Vallely Vancouver: Greystone Books, 2017 $24.95 / 9781771641340 * Canada’s Arctic: A Guide to Adventure Through the Northwest Passage by Ken Burton Delta: Pacific Marine Publishing, 2018 $49.95 / 9780919317581 * A joint review by Christopher Wright First published Nov. 30,…
Read more #435 Northwest Passage for mariners
Dunmora: The Story of a Heritage Manor House on Vancouver Island by Valerie Green Surrey: Hancock House Publishing, 2017 $59.95 / 9780888390080 Reviewed by Patrick A. Dunae * “Dunmora” is the name of an impressive Tudor Revival-style house that was built in 1922. It is located north of Victoria, on the west side of the…
Read more #434 Unto the Saanich manor born
Before and After the State: Politics, Poetics, and People(s) in the Pacific Northwest by Allan K. McDougall, Lisa Philips, and Daniel L. Boxberger Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018 $34.95 / 9780774836685 Reviewed by John Douglas Belshaw * One cannot these days escape the slogan of the Trump campaign: “Make America Great Again.” Set aside GDP, living…
Read more #433 Discord on the Pacific slope
Blossoms in the Gold Mountains: Chinese Settlements in the Fraser Canyon and the Okanagan by Lily Chow Halfmoon Bay: Caitlin Press, 2018 $24.95 / 9781987915501 Reviewed by Henry Yu First published Nov. 26, 2018 * Lily Chow’s Blossoms in the Gold Mountains is the culmination of a series of popular, accessible, and groundbreaking histories of…
Read more #432 Rescuing Chinese settlers
MEMOIR: The Spider Hunters by Lee Reid First published Nov. 23, 2018 * We are pleased to present The Spider Hunters, a coming-of-age memoir by Lee Reid (née Batchelor) of her early life in England (1946-1952), and then on densely-forested and thinly-populated Curteis Point near Sidney, Vancouver Island, between 1952 and 1964. The Spider Hunters…
Read more #431 The Spider Hunters
The Governor General’s Literary Awards of Canada: A Bibliography by Andrew David Irvine with the assistance of Edmond Rivère and Stephanie Tolman Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2018 $79.95 / 9780776627397 Les Prix littéraires du Gouverneur général du Canada: Une bibliographie by Andrew David Irvine, with the assistance of Edmond Rivère and Stephanie Tolman Ottawa:…
Read more #430 Looking back at the GGs
Codename Project 9: How a Small British Columbia City Helped Create the Atomic Bomb by Ron Verzuh CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2018 $13.08 / 9781720820703 Reviewed by Michael Sasges First published Nov. 22, 2018 * Codename Project 9 is a small book that engenders reflections on some big history. Since 1945, journalists and scholars…
Read more #429 Trail, the bomb, and Blaylock
Island Forest Embers: The Japanese Canadian Charcoal Kilns of the Southern Gulf Islands by Rumiko Kanesaka and Brian Smallshaw (editors) Ganges: Japanese Garden Society of Salt Spring Island, 2018 $8.00 / 9780973781410 Reviewed by Bob Muckle First published Nov. 20, 2018 * While walking in the forest on his home island of Galiano one day…
Read more #428 Gulf Islands charcoal burners
Thumbing a Ride: Hitchhikers, Hostels, and Counterculture in Canada by Linda Mahood Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018 $32.95 / 9780774837347 Reviewed by Lauren Harding First published November 19, 2018 * In this fascinating history, Linda Mahood takes a look at changing views of youth mobility in twentieth century Canada, from the early days of automobile travel…
Read more #427 Counterculture wanderlust
Iron Road West: An Illustrated History of British Columbia’s Railways by Derek Hayes Madeira Park: Harbour Publishing, 2018 $44.95 / 9781550178388 Reviewed by Walter Volovsek First published Nov. 17, 2018 * Derek Hayes’ latest venture into railway history is focused entirely on British Columbia. Although thus limited geographically, Hayes spins a very rich and comprehensive…
Read more #426 Moving amid the mountains
Spaces and Places for Art: Making Art Institutions in Western Canada 1912-1990 by Anne Whitelaw Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2017 $39.95 / 9780773550322 Reviewed by Martin Segger First published Nov. 16, 2018. * Geography challenges power. Anne Whitelaw has written an impressive geopolitical history of art institutions in western Canada. She demonstrates how…
Read more #425 Let them have art galleries
The Last Suffragist Standing: The Life and Times of Laura Marshall Jamieson by Veronica Strong-Boag Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018 $32.95 / 9780774838696 Reviewed by Patricia Roy First published Nov. 15, 2018. * The Life and Times is an old-fashioned title, but nothing is old-fashioned about this book. The sub-title is especially appropriate for a biography…
Read more #424 In search of Laura Jamieson
Nicholas Bradley reviews two books: Intertidal: The Collected Earlier Poems, 1968–2008 by Daphne Marlatt, edited by Susan Holbrook Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2017 $49.95 / 9781772011784 * Scree: The Collected Earlier Poems, 1962–1991 by Fred Wah, edited by Jeff Derksen Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2015 $49.95 / 9780889229471 First published Nov. 14, 2018 * * Landslip and Delta: A…
Read more #423 Landslip and delta
Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age by Darrel J. McLeod Madeira Park: Douglas & McIntyre, 2018 $29.95 / 9781771622004 Reviewed by David Milward * Darrel McLeod’s Mamaskatch: A Cree Coming of Age has won the 2018 Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. From Treaty Eight territory at Smith, Alberta, McLeod studied French literature and education at…
Read more #422 A tale of trauma and achievement
One Hundred Years of Struggle: The History of Women and the Vote in Canada by Joan Sangster Vancouver: UBC Press, 2018 $27.95 / 9780774835336 Reviewed by Barbara Messamore First published Nov. 12, 2018 * Joan Sangster’s clear, concise, and lively treatment of the women’s suffrage movement in Canada provides a broad historical survey while presenting…
Read more #421 Suffragist city
ESSAY: A century since Vimy and Passchendaele: Two wars, two families, one message by Howard Macdonald Stewart First published Nov. 11, 2018 * For Remembrance Day 2018 we offer a moving reflection by Howard Stewart — reprinted from Ormsby no. 195 (November 11, 2017) on this centenary of 11.11.18 — on war’s impact on his…
Read more #420 Why the red poppies matter